Systems and methods for message alerts and referrals

ABSTRACT

A system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for referring contacts to receive text message alerts. An accounts module receives first user data including an indicator that a first user requested to subscribe to receive text messages alerts. The account module adds, based at least on the received first user data, a first user account to a database of subscribers. A message generator module generates, using the processor in response to receiving the first user data, a first text message corresponding to an offer to subscribe to receive text message alerts. A communication module transmits to the first user the first text message corresponding to the offer to subscribe to receive text message alerts. The transmitted first text message can be forwarded to a second user.

PRIORITY CLAIM AND CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/210,691 filed Dec. 5, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/166,698 filed Jan. 28, 2014, whichapplication claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/832,660, filed Jun. 7, 2013,which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Thispresent application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/166,661, filed Jan. 28, 2014 titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORRETARGETING TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS, incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Example embodiments of the present application generally relate to textmessaging and, more particularly in one embodiment, to a system andmethod for providing text message alerts.

BACKGROUND

Marketplaces can be online and/or real world (e.g., brick and mortar).Online marketplaces can include websites or mobile applications whereusers may buy or sell goods or services (referred to collectively as“items”) from a provider of the online marketplace or other users of theonline marketplace. The goods or services (referred to collectively as“items”) are described in a published listing. Similar to onlinemarketplaces, real-world marketplaces may have websites that allowsusers to view inventory or interact with the real-world marketplace. Anyof these online browsing environments may serve online advertisements tousers during the course of their pursuits of online activities.

One approach for providing consumers with advertisements is by servingemail advertisements. Another form of advertisements is online banneradvertisements that may be displayed on various webpages, includingwebpages on third party websites. Accordingly, consumers can be exposedto a variety of advertisements throughout the consumers' onlineexperience. Given the rapid increase in the number of onlinemarketplaces, customers may become overwhelmed by the number of shoppingoptions and online advertisements. As a result, some marketplaces maynot be able to effectively market to consumers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter or numeric suffixes may represent different instancesof similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way ofexample, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed inthe present document.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of multiplemodules forming at least a portion of the marketplace and paymentapplications and, which are provided as part of the client-serversystem.

FIG. 3 is an interface diagram illustrating an example user interfacewith multiple display elements delivered to a client device, accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example data structure of auser account with multiple data fields stored in a databasecommunicatively coupled to the network-based marketplace.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleopt-in process.

FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram illustrating an example use case ofmultiple users opting in to receive text message alerts based on areferral system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for receiving user data including an indicator that a user hasrequested to subscribe to receive text message alerts.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for generating a referral text message.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for providing a reward to a referral.

FIG. 10 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed for providing retargetingof text message alerts.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment ofmultiple modules forming at least a portion of the retargetingapplication, which are provided as part of the client-server system.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for generating an alert by text message based on retargeting.

FIG. 13 is an interaction diagram illustrating an example use case ofmethod 1200.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for monitoring browser activity.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of an exampleprocess for determining text message alerts to be sent based on browseractivity.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of machine in the example form of a computersystem within which instructions, for causing the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to specific example embodiments forcarrying out the inventive subject matter. Examples of these specificembodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will beunderstood that they are not intended to limit the scope of the claimsto the described embodiments. On the contrary, they are intended tocover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims. In the following description, specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter.Embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In addition, well known features may not have been described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter.

In accordance with the present disclosure, components, process steps,and/or data structures may be implemented using various types ofoperating systems, programming languages, computing platforms, computerprograms, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less generalpurpose or nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or thelike, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe concepts disclosed herein. Embodiments may also be tangibly embodiedas a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium,such as a memory device.

Example methods and systems to communicate with users via text messagesare described. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of example embodiments. It will be evident,however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details.

An online marketplace is a website or mobile application where a usermay buy or sell items from a provider of the online marketplace or otherusers of the online marketplace. The items are described in a publishedlisting. The listing may indicate various properties or characteristicsof the good, service, or proposed transaction such as brand, make,model, year, category, price (e.g., a current high bid, reserve price,or buy it now price), color, size, condition, sale type (e.g., auctionor buy it now), seller, shipping availability and details, location,keywords, categories, or identifiers (e.g., UPC or ISBN code). Theonline marketplace may catalogue items for sale to group listingdescribing similar items together. The catalogue may provide a single,standard description of fungible items and include at least a portion ofthe various properties or characteristics.

In some instances, the online marketplace is associated with areal-world marketplace such as a bricks and mortar store or a chain ofbricks and mortar stores. The real-world marketplace may have the sameinventory, overlapping inventory, or different inventory than itsassociated online marketplace. The real-world marketplace may have awebsite that allows users to view inventory or interact with thereal-world marketplace.

In some instances, the online marketplace or the real-world marketplacemay communicate to its users various alerts, e.g., items for sale,discounts or other offers, events, or the like marketing notifications.The communication may occur via text or multimedia messages (e.g., shortmessage service (SMS) or multimedia messaging service (MMS),collectively referred simply as “text messages”) sent or received usingthe phone (e.g., feature phone or smartphone) of the user. In someinstances, the user (“subscriber”) may sign up with the marketplace toreceive text messages from the marketplace. The text messages may besent on a regular basis or on a scheduled basis. In some embodiments,the user may provide various constraints on the text messagecommunications. Moreover, the marketplace can inhibit sending textmessages to a user unless the user has subscribed and provided writtenauthorization to receive text messages.

In some embodiments, the text messaging program opt-in process (alsoreferenced herein as “subscription process”) incentivizes andfacilitates new subscribers to invite others to join the program. Forexample, a first user may subscribe to receive text message offers oralerts. Alerts can include notifications related to special offers,sales discounts, product listings, events, and the like marketplacenotifications. The first user may receive an invitation to subscribebased on the first user's purchase or browsing history. The first usermay subscribe for the alerts using, for example, a point of service(POS) system in a bricks and mortar store, a website, or by textmessaging keywords to a short-code text number.

Accordingly, the first user, now a subscriber, may receive text messagealerts from their favorite marketplaces that they might have otherwisemissed. Subscribers who are pleased with the text message alertsubscription may have contacts who would likewise be interested inreceiving text message alerts. In one aspect, the text messaging systemcan help facilitate user referrals. Accordingly, in one embodiment, inresponse to the first user subscribing for text message alerts, thesystem can send a referral text to the first user during the subscribingprocess. The referral text message can be easily forwarded to one ormore of the first user's contacts. For each referral who thensubscribes, the first user (e.g., the “referrer”) may receive a reward,for example, such as a discount, credit, and the like incentives. Inthis way, one subscriber may refer one or more contacts, and thosecontacts may each refer one or more contacts. Accordingly, such networkeffects can improve the program's coverage.

In another aspect of the text message alert system, a program cangenerate targeted text message alerts based on the browser activities ofthe subscribers in order to improve the users' experience. For example,a subscriber can receive text message alerts that are tailored to theinterests of the subscriber. For example, the program may monitor theactivities (referred to as “browsing activities” or “online activities”herein) of the subscriber on certain websites and, based on thesubscriber's interactions with objects of the website, match particularalerts related to the subscriber's behaviors. Accordingly, thesubscriber may receive more alerts that interest the subscriber and lessunrelated alerts, thereby increasing the usefulness of the program tothe subscriber. Furthermore, targeted text messages may increase thesubscriber's satisfaction with the program, and thus may result in thesubscriber referring the program to a contact. As such, in someembodiments, the referral process and the retargeting process may workin conjunction.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system 100, withinwhich one example embodiment may be deployed. A networked system 102, inthe example forms a network-based marketplace or publication system,provides server-side functionality, via a network 104 (e.g., theInternet or Wide Area Network (WAN)) to one or more clients. FIG. 1illustrates, for example, a web client 106 (e.g., a browser), and aprogrammatic client 108 executing on respective client machines/devices110 and 112.

An Application Program Interface (API) server 114 and a web server 116are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectivelyto, one or more application servers 118. The application servers 118host one or more marketplace applications 120, payment applications 122,and communication applications 123. The application servers 118 are, inturn, shown to be coupled to one or more databases servers 124 thatfacilitate access to one or more databases 126.

The marketplace applications 120 may provide a number of marketplacefunctions and services to users that access the networked system 102.The payment applications 122 may likewise provide a number of paymentservices and functions to users. The payment applications 122 may allowusers to accumulate value (e.g., in a commercial currency, such as theU.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts,and then later to redeem the accumulated value for items that are madeavailable via the marketplace applications 120. The communicationapplications 123 may likewise provide a number of communication servicesand functions to users. In one embodiment, the communicationapplications 123 may provide the marketplace applications 120 andpayment applications 122 various text messaging services, such asSMS/MMS communication services. For example, the marketplaceapplications 120 and payment applications 122 may communicate recipientand content information to the communication applications 123, and inresponse, the communication applications 123 can transmit text messagesbased on recipient and content information in accordance with SMS, MMS,or the like communication protocols. Additionally, the communicationapplications 123 may receive text messages based on SMS, MMS, and/or thelike protocols and may communicate recipient and content information tothe marketplace applications 120 and payment applications 122.Accordingly, the marketplace applications 120 and payment applications122 may transmit and receive text messages with users. While themarketplace, payment, and communication applications 120, 122, 123 areshown in FIG. 1 as all forming part of the networked system 102, it willbe appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, each of themarketplace, payment, and communication applications 120, 122, 123 mayform part of respective marketplace, payment, and/or communicationservices that are separate and distinct from the networked system 102.

Further, while the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 employs a client-serverarchitecture, the present invention is of course not limited to such anarchitecture, and could equally well find application in a distributed,or peer-to-peer, architecture system, for example. The variousmarketplace, payment, and communications applications 120, 122, 123could also be implemented as standalone software programs, which do notnecessarily have networking capabilities.

In addition, while the various marketplace, payment, and communicationsapplications 120, 122, 123 have been described above as having separatefunctionalities, in alternative embodiments these functionalities may beperformed by any one or more of the various marketplace, payment, andcommunications applications 120, 122, 123.

The web client 106 accesses the various marketplace and paymentapplications 120 and 122 via the web interface supported by the webserver 116. Similarly, the programmatic client 108 accesses the variousservices and functions provided by the marketplace and paymentapplications 120 and 122 via the programmatic interface provided by theAPI server 114. The programmatic client 108 may, for example, be aseller application (e.g., the TurboLister application developed by eBayInc., of San Jose, Calif.) to enable sellers to author and managelistings on the networked system 102 in an off-line manner, and toperform batch-mode communications between the programmatic client 108and the networked system 102.

FIG. 1 also illustrates a third party application 128, executing on athird party server machine 130, as having programmatic access to thenetworked system 102 via the programmatic interface provided by the APIserver 114. For example, the third party application 128 may, utilizinginformation retrieved from the networked system 102, support one or morefeatures or functions on a website hosted by the third party. The thirdparty website may, for example, provide one or more promotional,marketplace, or payment functions that are supported by the relevantapplications of the networked system 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of multiplemodules 202-212 forming at least a portion of the marketplace andpayment applications 120 and 122 (or simply referred to as “marketplaceapplication 120”), which are provided as part of the client-serversystem 100. The modules 202-212 of the illustrated marketplaceapplication 120 include a controller module(s) 202, a data managementmodule(s) 204, an accounts module(s) 206, a message generator module(s)208, an reward module(s) 210, and a retargeting module 212.

The modules 202-212 of the marketplace application 120 may be hosted ondedicated or shared server machines (not shown) that are communicativelycoupled to enable communications between server machines. Each of themodules 202-212 are communicatively coupled (e.g., via appropriateinterfaces) to each other and to various data sources, so as to allowinformation to be passed between the modules 202-212 of the marketplaceapplication 120 or so as to allow the modules 202-212 to share andaccess common data. The various modules of the marketplace application120 may furthermore access one or more databases 134 via the databaseservers 132.

The marketplace application 120 may provide a number of offers, sales,discounts, listings, and/or pricing notifications whereby a seller maylist (or publish information concerning) items for sale, a buyer canexpress interest in or indicate a desire to purchase such items, and aprice can be set for a transaction pertaining to the items. Inparticular, users can subscribe to receive text message alert of productoffers, sales, discounts, listings, and/or pricing. In some exampleembodiments, the marketplace application 120 can be configured to rewarda user (e.g., a user who has subscribed to receive text message alerts)for referring other users to subscribe to receive text message alerts.For example, the market place application 120 may receive a firstcommunication indicative that a first user has subscribed to receivetext message alerts. Subsequently, the marketplace application 120 mayreceive a second communication indicative that a second user hassubscribed to receive text message alerts and that the second user wasreferred by the first user to subscribe to receive text message alerts.In response to receiving the second communication, the marketplaceapplication 120 can provide the first user a reward in the form of adiscount or credit, for example.

To this end, the marketplace application 120 is shown to include thecontroller module 202 and the data management module 204 operativelycoupled to the accounts module 206, the message generator 208, thereward module 210, and the retargeting module 212, which together withthe communication applications 123 of FIG. 1 can serve to provide textmessage alerts. The controller module 202 can be configured to controlthe operation of the various modules 204-212 as well as the flow ofinformation, data, and/or signals between the modules 202-212. In turn,the data management module 204 can be configured to facilitate the flowof the information, data, and/or signals between the modules 202-212, inaccordance with the controller module 202. In addition, the datamanagement module 204 can be configured to support communication betweenthe marketplace application 120 and the network 104, the payment andcommunication applications 122,123, and/or the database server 124 ofFIG. 1.

The accounts module 206 can be configured to maintain user account data,including adding and storing new user accounts for users who request toreceive text message alerts, as well as storing data related to referralrewards. For example, in one embodiment a user can provide a seller ofthe marketplace application 120 user account information (also referredto as “user account data”) for subscribing to receive text messagenotifications. The accounts module 206 can receive the user accountinformation from the data management module 204.

The user account information can include, among other information, dataindicating that there was written authorization from the user for theseller to provide text message alerts for offers, sales, discounts,listings, pricing, and/or other notifications. In some embodiments, themarketplace application 120 will not send text messages to a user unlessthat user has provided written authorization. Written authorization caninclude the user entering a phone number into an electronic device in amanner that indicates the user's express authorization. It will beappreciated that authorization can be expressed in any suitable manner,such as clicking a check box associated with providing authorization,or, in other embodiments, providing verbal authorization, in accordancewith local laws and policies.

Furthermore, the accounts module 206 can perform various authenticationand verification processes to determine legitimate subscribers and tosafe guard privacy. In this way, the marketplace application 120 canavoid providing text messages in a way that may aggravate potentialcustomers and can, instead, provide a positive user experience.

In response to receiving user account information, the accounts module206 can add or store a user account to a database of subscribers. Eachuser account of the database of subscribers can correspond to a user whohas subscribed to receive at least some type of notification. Useraccounts can be active or inactive. An active user account is an accountin which the marketplace application 120 can send text message alerts tothe corresponding user. An inactive user account is an account in whichthe user account includes data of the user but the marketplaceapplication 120 will not send text message notifications to thecorresponding user. For example, the accounts module 206 can beconfigured to set as inactive accounts without authorization.Additionally, the accounts module 206 can be configured to set anaccount as inactive if a time period lapses (e.g., if the user hassubscribed to receive text message alerts for a set amount of time) ofor text message alert limit can become inactive (e.g., if the user hassubscribed to receive text message alerts for a set number of alerts).

In some embodiments, the types of offers, sales, discounts, listings,and/or pricing of the notifications can be determined based on datastored in the respective user account. For example, the particularnotifications can be determined (e.g., targeted) based on past userpurchase history, purchased products, purchase times, purchase values,shipping destination, location, and other like considerations indicativeof user preferences or interests. In one aspect, among others, targetedalerts can increase the likelihood that the user will make a purchase.In addition, targeted alerts can help create a positive user experienceand thus increase the number of people whom the user may refer.

As stated, it can be beneficial to the seller if users refer otherusers. The user may know and refer people who might be interested insome aspects of the seller's business. As such, the referral itself maybe targeted, and these referrals may be comparatively more likely tosubscribe and to purchase the items of the seller. Additionally, inturn, those referred users may refer additional users, and so on,leading to increased exposure of the seller's business. Accordingly, inone aspect, the marketplace application 120 can provide systems andprocesses to incentivize referrals.

For example, the accounts module 206 can facilitate providing rewards,such as, but not limited to, offers, sales, discounts, credit, and/orlike incentives when a user subscribes based at least on a referral byanother user. In this case, the marketplace application 120 can providethe referring user (“the referrer”) a reward, such as, but is notlimited to, credit, discounts, and/or the like incentives. The referrercan receive rewards for each of one or more referrals who subsequentlysubscribe. The referrer may additionally or alternatively receiverewards for purchases made by users that were referred by the referrer.In some embodiments, for each seller there may be a limit on the maximumaggregate reward given based on referrals. Additionally oralternatively, there may be a limit on the reward given for each of oneor more types of events, such as, but not limited to, referrals,purchases, and the like activities. Determining rewards will bedescribed in greater detail later in connection with FIGS. 5 and 9.

To facilitate rewards for encouraging referrals, user accountinformation, for instance, can include an indication that thesubscribing user was referred by an existing user or subscriber, if any.As one example, the corresponding user account information can include adata field related to an identifier of the referrer. The identifier canbe a phone number, a name, a unique code, or any suitable identifyinginformation. The identifier can be used to match a user account of theaccount database in order to identify the referrer. In response tomatching a user account to the identifier, a reward for the referrer canbe determined based on the matching user account information of the useraccount. One example of a data structure of a user account will bedescribed in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 4.

The message generator module 208 can provide functionality to generatevarious text message alerts. In one aspect, the text messages can bedynamically generated or published based on information from the sellers(e.g., based on the products) and the subscribers (e.g., based onpersonal data). Accordingly, the message generator module 208 can beconfigured to generate one or more text messages based on the activitiesof the users related to subscribing, referrals, and the like activities.

For example, in response to receiving user data related to a first usersubscribing to receive text message alerts, the message generator module208 can generate a first text message. The first text message (“referraltext message”) can include an offer to subscribe to receive alerts viatext messages. But instead of sending the referral text message directlyto an unsubscribed user, the message generator 298 can generate thereferral text message for transmitting to the first user for forwardingto a second user, such as a contact stored in the phone of the firstuser. In one embodiment, the message generator 208 can be configured toutilize the data management module 204 and/or the communicationapplication 123 of FIG. 1 for transmitting the referral text message tothe first user. The referral text message can be phrased in a way thatthe referral text message appears to be have written by the first user.

In this way, the first user can refer the second user to receive textmessage alerts by forwarding the referral text message. By sending thereferral text message to the first user (e.g., a subscriber), themarketplace application 120 does not send referral text messages tousers who have not previously provided authorization. If the first userforwards the referral text message to the second user, the second userwill be provided information for subscribing via the referral textmessage. Furthermore, if the second user subsequently subscribes, thenthe marketplace application 120 can provide the first user a reward forbeing a referrer, as will be described in greater detail below.

Additionally or alternatively, the message generator module 208 can beconfigured to determine and/or generate a hyperlink and to include thehyperlink in the referral text message. The hyperlink can be associatedto a web resource, such as a web page, for signing up to subscribe toreceive text message alerts. For example, the web resource can beconfigured to communicate user data to the accounts module, and theaccounts module 206 can be configured to add accounts to and/or modifyaccounts of the database of accounts based on the user data. In thisway, the first user (e.g., in this case, acting as a referrer) canforward the referral text message to the second user to refer the seconduser to subscribe to receive text message alerts. When the second userreceives the referral text message, the second user can activate thehyperlink in order to receive the web resource for signing up tosubscribe to receive text message alerts.

In some embodiments, the hyperlink can be configured to provide the webresource an indicator of a referrer, such as the first user who hasforwarded the referral text to a second user. For example, the hyperlinkmay automatically provide the webpage identification data thatidentifies the first user. In this way, the second user need notmanually enter data related to the referrer. Aspects of the referraltext message will be described in greater detail later in connectionwith FIGS. 5 and 8.

Additionally or alternatively, the message generator module 208 can beconfigured to generate a second text message (“acknowledgment textmessage”) in response to a requested to subscribe. The acknowledgmenttext message can include an acknowledgement that a user account has beencreated or added for the subscribing user. The data management module204 and/or communication application 123 of FIG. 1 can be configured totransmit the acknowledgment text message to the user who is subscribing.Aspects of the acknowledgement text message will be described in greaterdetail later in connection with FIG. 5.

Additionally or alternatively, the message generator module 208 can beconfigured to generate a third text message (“reward text message”) thatcan serve to notify a referrer (e.g., corresponding to the first user ifthe first user forwarded the referral text message to the second user)that a reward has been credited to the referrer. In an embodiment, themessage generator 208 can be configured to generate the reward textmessage in response to a user (e.g., the second user) subscribing andproviding an indication of the referrer to indicate that the referrerreferred the subscribing user. The data management module 204 and/orcommunication application 123 of FIG. 1 can transmit the reward textmessage to the associated referrer. Aspects of the reward will bedescribed in greater detail below and later in connection with FIGS. 5and 9.

The reward module 210 can be configured to determine a reward to providethe first user if the second user subscribes to receive text messagealerts based on a referral (such as, a referral text message) from thefirst user. For example, in response to the accounts module 206receiving the second user data to subscribe the second user, the rewardmodule 210 can access the first user account and can determine a rewardbased on the first user data of the first user account. The rewardmodule 210 can update the reward data of the first user account based atleast on the determined reward. For example, the reward module 210 canincrement the reward data based on the amount of the reward. The rewarddata can serve as a way to track the rewards given to the users in orderto implement limits on the rewards that a user can receive.

In one embodiment, the reward module 210 can be configured to determinewhether the second user account was added based at least on receivingthe second user data. For example, the reward module 210 can determinethat the second user has a pre-existing account and thus is not a newuser. In this case, the reward module 210 can be configured to provideno reward to the first user. In the case that the second user did nothave a previous user account, the reward module 210 can be configured toprovide the first user a reward. Accordingly, the reward module 210 canbe configured to provide the first user a reward based at least on adetermination that the second user account was added based at least onthe second user data.

The retargeting module 212 can serve to provide retargeting features.Retargeting can include activities associated with providing targetedadvertisements, such as text message alerts, based on online activitiesof users. For example, retargeting can include monitoring a user'sbrowsers activities, analyzing the browser activities, selecting analert based on the analysis, and generating a text message alert basedon the selected alert. Accordingly, the retargeting module 212 can beconfigured to provide real-time data collection, retargeting logic,dynamically publication of text message alerts, and an interface withthe communication application 132 for transmitting text messages alertsto one or more the user devices. The retargeting module 212 will bedescribed in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 11.

Example User Interface

FIG. 3 is an interface diagram illustrating an example user interface300 with multiple display elements delivered to a client device 110,according to an example embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the userinterface 300 may be presented to a user on the display of a clientdevice (e.g., client device 110). In this example, the user interface300 corresponds to a graphical user interface of a web resource, such asa webpage, for the opt-in (subscribing) process to receive text messagealert notifications from the network-based marketplace 102. A user mayopt in using a computing device such as a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, or mobile computing device connected to the network 102. Insome embodiments, the user may opt in for the text message alertnotifications using a point of service system at a bricks and mortarstore. For example, a cashier may perform at least a portion of theopt-in process for the user in order to reduce the workload of the user.

Consistent with this embodiment, upon initiation of a networkcommunication session between the client device 106 and network-basedmarketplace 102, the controller module 202 may determine that a user isrequesting to opt-in to receive text message alert notifications. Theopt-in process can be initiated by a user whether or not that user wasreferred by another second user. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the userinterface 300 includes a frame 302 that contains one or more interfaceelements for inputting user data that can be used to generate a new useraccount. The frame 302 includes introductory text 304, a first nameinput 306, a last name input 308, an email address input 310, an emailconfirmation input 312, a gender input 314, a date of birth input 316, aphone number input 318, and a zip code input 320. In some embodiments ofthe user interface 300, the frame 302 can also include a referral input322 for receiving identification to a user, if any, who has referred thepresent subscriber. The inputs 306-322 can include respective text boxesand accompanying text prompting the user to enter the appropriate data.The data entered into the inputs 306 to 322 can be transmitted to theaccounts module 206 for creating and storing a corresponding useraccount.

It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill that otherembodiments of the user interface 300 need not include each element ofFIG. 3 and other embodiments may include more or less elements. In oneaspect, the number of elements displayed by the user interface 300 maybe determined based on the device displaying the user interface 300. Forexample, a mobile device having limited display space and data bandwidthmay include less elements than, for example, a desktop computing device.As another example, a terminal at a point of service device may includemore elements than those shown in FIG. 3, and the cashier, for instance,can populate one or more of the inputs of the user interface 300. Thecashier may obtain the information to populate the inputs based onscanning a payment device such as a credit card. In a particularembodiment the user interface 300 includes the phone number input 318and the introductory text 304 but not the remaining elements of FIG. 3.Such a user interface can be advantageous for devices operating withlimited resources.

Example Data Structure

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example data structure 400 ofa user account with multiple data fields. The data structure 400 may bestored in a database 126 communicatively coupled to the network-basedmarketplace 102. The data structure 400 may be created and/or accessedby the accounts module 206 in response to receiving user data (e.g., foropting in), adding a user account, determining a reward, determiningtext message alerts, tracking, and the like activities of themarketplace application 120. For example, user data can be inputted by auser via the user interface 300 in order to opt in or subscribe toreceiving text message notifications of product alerts. The userinterface 300 can transmit the user input to the marketplace and paymentapplications 120, 122. Accordingly, the data structure 400 can becreated by the accounts module 206 in response to receiving the userdata with the data management module 204.

The illustrated data structure 400 of FIG. 4 includes a contact ID datafield 402, a phone number data field 404, a reward data field 406, apurchase data field 408, a personal data field 410, a tracking datafield 412, and the like data related to a user account. The contact ID402 can correspond to data identifying a user. The phone number datafield 404 can correspond to a phone number to which text message may besent. The reward data field 406 can correspond to data related to pastrewards. For example, the reward data field 406 can store one or morereward totals that have been provided to the user. The reward data field406 can include data tracking redeemed rewards and or pending rewards(e.g., unused rewards). The purchase data field 408 can correspond todata tracking the corresponding users purchase history, includinginformation related to past purchases, past purchase amounts, pastpurchase values, shipping addresses, purchase frequencies, and the likeactivities. The personal data field 410 can correspond to data relatedto the associated user's location, social network, employment status,and the like information. The tracking data field 412 can correspond todata, in addition to the data provided in data fields 402-410, relatedto tracking activities of the user. Tracking data can be used to supportretargeting services (as described in greater detail below in connectionwith FIGS. 10-15). To protect private, sensitive user data, suchinformation is either not collected or is protected by data securitytechnology.

Example Subscription and Referral Processes

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 500 of an exampleopt-in process. In this example, the method 500 may include operationssuch as receiving user data 504, generating an acknowledgment message506, generating a referral message 508, testing whether the user wasreferred 510, and rewarding the referrer 512. The example method 500will be described, by way of explanation, below as being performed bycertain modules. It will be appreciate, however, that the operations ofthe example method 500 can be performed in any suitable order by anynumber of the modules shown in FIG. 2.

At operation 502, the method 500 starts at block 502 and proceeds toblock 504 for receiving user data including an indicator that a user hasrequested to subscribe to receive text message alerts. The user data mayinclude a telephone number of the user. In some embodiments thetelephone number corresponds to the indicator that the user hasrequested to subscribe to receive alerts via text messages. In someembodiments, the user data can be received by the accounts module 206 byusing the data management module 204. The user data can be provided bythe user via the user interface, such as the interface 300 of FIG. 3. Inaddition to the telephone number, the user data can include one or moreof the data fields 402-410. In response to receiving the user data, theaccounts module 206 can be configured to create a user accountassociated with the user. For example, the user account can be stored inthe database 126 of FIG. 1. A subroutine of block 504 will be describedin greater detail later in connection with FIG. 7.

In response to receiving the user data, the method 500 can proceed fromblock 504 to block 506 for generating an acknowledgment message. Theacknowledgment message can provide an indicator to the user that theuser has been subscribe to receive alerts via text messages.Additionally or alternatively, the acknowledgment message can includeinstructions for the user to request help and/or to cancel the opt-inprocess. For example, the acknowledgement message can include the textsuch as, “Reply HELP for help” and/or “Reply STOP to cancel.”Accordingly, if the user replies with a text message containing thekeyword “HELP,” the controller module 202 can send the user additionaltext messages that provide further explanation of the opt-in process orthe subscription service. Additionally, if the user replies with a textmessage containing the keyword “STOP,” the controller module 202 canterminate the opt-in process.

The acknowledgment message may also include text that explains that theuser will receive the referral text, and that referral text can beforwarded to a friend or other contact in order to receive a reward orspecial offer. In one embodiment, the message generator module 208generates the acknowledgment text message, and the data managementmodule 204 and/or the communication application 123 can transmit theacknowledgment text message to the user at the phone number provided inthe user data and/or stored in the associated user account.

Also, in response to receiving the user data, the method 500 can carryout block 508 for generating a referral message for setting to the userthat has initiated the method 500 for opting in. The referral messagecan include a request or invitation to subscribe to receive text messagealerts, and the request or invitation will be sent to the user, theperson who has subscribed. However, the referral text message isconfigured to be forwarded to a contact (e.g., a second user) of theuser (e.g., a first user).

The referral text message can be generated in a style that gives it anappearance that the first user has written the text message for thecontact of the first user. As a result, the contact of the first usermay be less likely to disregard the text message if the first userforwards the referral text message to the contact. In one embodiment,the message generator module 208 generates the referral text message,and the data management module 204 and/or communication application 123transmits the referral text message to the user at the phone numberprovided in the user data and/or stored in the associated user account.A subroutine of block 508 will be described in greater detail later inconnection with FIG. 8.

At block 510, the method 500 can test whether the user was referred by aprevious user. For example, a previous user may have forwarded areferral text message to the first user who currently opting. In oneembodiment, the controller module 202 can signal to the accounts module206 to test the user data and/or the user account to determine whetheror not there is indication that the user was referred by a referrer. Forexample, the data structure 400 of FIG. 4 can include a data field (notshown) that provides an identity of the referrer. The identity of thereferrer can be indicated by a contact ID or a telephone number, as twonon-limiting examples. Other suitable identification information can beused.

If the user was not referred by another user, the opt-in process for thecurrent user is complete and the method 500 can return to block 504 foranother user requesting to opt in to receive alerts via text messages.

If the user was referred by another user, the method 500 proceeds toblock 512 for rewarding the referrer. For example, the referrer mayreceive a special offer or reward, such as a discount and/or credit. Inone embodiment, the reward module 210 can be configured to determine thereward. In one embodiment, reward module 210 can determine the rewardbased on data associated with one or more of past rewards to thereferrer or other data stored in the referrer's user account. Asubroutine of block 512 will be described in greater detail later inconnection with FIG. 9.

FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram illustrating an example use case 600 ofmultiple users opting in to receive text message alerts based on areferral system. In particular, FIG. 6 illustrates interactions betweenvarious components of the network system 100, according to an exampleembodiment. Specifically, FIG. 6 illustrates interactions of N users(corresponding, e.g., to N client devices 106) and the marketplaceapplication 120 of FIG. 1.

At operation 602, User 1 initiations the process to subscribe to receivetext message alerts from the marketplace application 120. In someembodiments, the accounts module 206 receives the user data from User 1via communications over the network 104 and by using the communicationapplication 123. The User 1 can initiate the process to subscribe at apoint of service terminal or by providing the corresponding data byinputting the data with webpage.

At operation 604, the marketplace application 120 receives the user dataand creates a corresponding user account, for example in accordance withblock 504 FIG. 5. The marketplace application 120 can in turn send anacknowledgment message to User 1, in accordance with block 506. Asstated in connection with FIG. 5, the acknowledgment message can includetext indicating to User 1 that User 1 is subscribed to receive alertsvia text messages.

At operation 606, the marketplace application 120 can send User 1 areferral message. The referral message can correspond to a text messagethat includes a request to subscribe to receive text message alerts. Inone embodiment, the marketplace application 120 can perform theoperation 606 in accordance with block 508 of FIG. 5.

At operation 608, User 1 can forward, in response to receiving thereferral message, the referral message to a User 2. The User 2 can be acontact stored in a mobile device of User 1. For example, the mobiledevice can correspond to the device that receives the acknowledgment andreferral messages of operation 604 and 606. The User 1 can beincentivized the forward the referral message based on the possibilityof receiving a reward from the marketplace application 120.

At operation 610, User 2, in response to receiving the referral messagefrom User 1, initiates a process to subscribe to receive alerts via textmessages from the marketplace application 120. For example, User 2 canprovide the marketplace application 120 with user data associated withUser 2. The user data of User 2 can be inputted via the any of thevarious interfaces discussed in connection with operation 602, block 504of FIG. 5, and the user interface 300 of FIG. 3. For example, thereferral message forwarded to User 2 at operation 608 may include ahyperlink to the user interface 300. Moreover, the hyperlink can beconfigured to automatically populate the referral input 322 with thetelephone number associated with User 1. In addition, the user data ofUser 2 can include an indication that the user has provided writtenauthorization for the marketplace application 120 to send User 2 textmessages.

At operations 612 and 614, the marketplace application 120, in responseto receiving the user data of User 2, creates a user account associatedwith User 2 and sends the acknowledgment and referral text messages toUser 2 in a manner similar to operations 604 and 606, as describedabove.

At operation 616, the marketplace application 120 provides User 1 areward for referring User 2 and because User 2 subscribed to receivetext message alerts. For example, the reward module 210 and the accountsmodule 206 of the marketplace application 120 can determine the rewardbased on accessing the user account associated with User 1. The rewardcan be selected based on the data of the user account in order toincrease the likelihood that User 1 will purchase a product or servicethe marketplace application 120, and in order to increase the likelihoodthat User 1 is incentivized to continue to receive text message alertsand to make additional referrals.

At operation 618, User 2 can forward the referral message sent atoperation 614 to another user, in a similar manner as was describedabove in connection with operation 608. In response to receiving theforwarded referral message of operation 618, one or more users maysubscribe to receive alerts via text messages at operation 620.Accordingly, the marketplace application 120 can send a number ofacknowledgement and referral messages at operations 622 and 624 andprovide User 2 with a reward at operation 626.

The referral process can be repeated for a number of users. For example,User N receives a referral message at operation 628 and subscribes atoperation 630 with an indicator of a referrer. In response, themarketplace application 120 transmits acknowledgment and referralmessages at operation 632 and 634 to the user N and provides a reward toa corresponding user at operation 636.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 504 of an exampleprocess for receiving user data including an indicator that a user hasrequested to subscribe to receive alerts via text messages. In thisexample, the method 504 may include operations such as determiningaccount information 702, determining further account information 704,and storing account information 706. The example method 504 will bedescribed, by way of explanation, below as being performed by certainmodules. It will be appreciate, however, that the operations of theexample method 504 can be performed in any suitable order by any numberof the modules shown in FIG. 2.

The method 504 starts at block 701 and proceeds to block 702 fordetermining account information based on parsing the received user data.The user data can be provided by, for example, the user interface 300.The accounts module 206 can receive the user data from the communicationapplication 123 and/or the data management module 204. The accountsmodule 206 can parse the received user data for one or more of a contactID, a phone number, reward data, purchase data, or personal data andstore the data parsed from the user data in a data structure 400 storedin the database 126.

In addition, the user data can include one or more parametersdetermining limitations on how the marketplace application 120 providesthe alerts via text messages. One example parameter corresponds to alimit on the frequency of the text messages. For instance, the user canprovide user data that restricts the marketplace application 120 fromsending more than a specified amount text messages over a specifiedperiod of time (e.g., 5 text messages per month).

At block 704, the method 504 determines further account informationbased on information extraneous to the received user data. For example,the accounts module 206 can be configured to match the telephone numberto a location. Location information can be useful for targeting alertsto the user such that the user is more likely to purchase products orservices from the marketplace application 120. As another example,information parsed from the received user data may be used to search fora name of the user. Determining the user's name can be used forpersonalizing text messages to the user.

In response to determining account information at blocks 702 and 704,the method 504 moves to block 706 for storing the determined accountinformation. For example, in one embodiment the accounts module 206creates and stores user account information in one or more databases 126of FIG. 1. Once the account information is determined and stored, themethod 504 can end at block 708.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 508 of an exampleprocess for generating a referral text message. In this example, themethod 508 may include operations such as generating explanatory text802, generating referral text 804, and transmitting the messageincluding the explanatory text and the referral text. The example method508 will be described, by way of explanation, below as being performedby certain modules. It will be appreciate, however, that the operationsof the example method 508 can be performed in any suitable order by anynumber of the modules shown in FIG. 2.

The method 508 can start at block 801 and proceeds to block 802 forgenerating explanatory text. In one embodiment, the message generatormodule 208 can be configured to generate the explanatory text to beincluded in the referral text message. As stated, the marketplaceapplication 120 can transmit the referral text to the currentsubscriber. In response to receiving the referral text message, thesubscriber can forward the referral text message to a contact, such as afriend, encouraging the contact to also subscribe. By generating theexplanatory text, the marketplace application 120 can reduce theworkload of the subscriber, thereby increasing the likelihood that thesubscriber will refer a contact. Including the explanatory text may alsoincrease the number of contacts to whom the subscriber will forward thereferral message. Furthermore, the explanatory text can include textwritten in a style that gives the referral text message the appearancethat the subscriber wrote the referral text message. For example, theexplanatory text may include a message approximately as follows: “Hey,you should sign up for XYZ Co. Mobile Alerts to get special offers.”Accordingly, the explanatory text can increases the likelihood that thereferred contact will read the text and, more, accept the referral.

At block, the method 508 generates referral text. In one embodiment, themessage generator module 208 can be configured to generate the referraltext to be included in the referral text message. The referral text caninclude text, as well as hypertext or any suitable object configured tolink to a webpage. For example, the referral text can include a uniquehyperlink that is configured to load a webpage for subscribing and forpassing data indicative of the referrer's referral. In this way, thereferred contact need not enter in contact information of thesubscriber. As result, the referral system can be more effective becauseparticipants are more likely to receive a referral reward and usersatisfaction may increase.

At block 806, the method 508 can transmit the referral text messageincluding the explanatory text and the referral text to the subscribeduser. In one embodiment, the message generator module 208 can providethe communication application 123 of FIG. 1 the referral text messagefor transmission. Once the referral text message is sent, the method 508can end at block 808.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 512 of an exampleprocess for providing a reward to a referral. In this example, themethod 512 may include operations such as determining whether a referreduser is a pre-existing user 904, accessing the referrer's user accountdata 906, determining a reward based on the user account data 908,updating the reward data of the user account data 910, and notifying thereferrer 912. The example method 512 will be described, by example, asbeing performed by certain modules. It will be appreciated, however,that the operations of the example method 512 can be performed by anynumber of the modules shown in FIG. 2.

The method 512 can start at block 902 and proceed to the block 904 fordetermining whether the referred user is a pre-existing user. Forexample, the reward module 210 can be used determine whether thereferred user has an existing account, whether it be active or inactive.In one embodiment, the reward module can be configured to query theaccounts module 206 in order to make the determination of whether thereferred user has a pre-existing account. If the referred user has apre-existing account, the reward module 210 can be configured to provideno reward to the referrer. Accordingly, in the illustrated method 512 ofFIG. 9, the method 512 can proceed to block 912 if the referred user isa pre-existing user.

If the referred user did not have a previous user account, the rewardmodule 210 can be configured to provide the first user (e.g., referrer)a reward, as will be described in further detail below in connectionwith blocks 906-908.

At block 906, if it is determined that the referred user is not apre-existing user, the method 512 includes accessing the referrer's useraccount data. For example, the accounts module 206 can provide thereferrer's user account data to the reward module 210. In oneembodiment, the user account data can correspond to the data structure400 of FIG. 4. In particular, the data structure can include a rewarddata field 406 for storing past rewards amount. For example, the totalamount of rewards that a subscriber may receive from referrals over timemay be limited. Accordingly, the reward data may be used to record thehistory of rewards provided to the subscriber so that the rewards to thesubscriber can be limited.

At block 908, the method 512 includes determining a reward based on theuser account data accessed at block 906. For example, the rewards modulemay determine the reward based at least on the reward data of thereferrer's user account. For example, a reward may be provided to thereferrer if the past amount of rewards is below a limit. Otherwise, ifthe past reward amount is greater than about a limit, then the rewardmodule may provide the referrer no further reward. Additionally, thereward module may provide a reward amount that decreases for newreferrals. In this way, a limit can be achieved in a gradual manner.Similarly, the rewards can increase for a number of subsequent referrals(e.g., increasing for each of the first five referrals, and thendecrease for every referral afterwards).

At block 910, the method 512 updates the reward data of the user accountdata. For example, the reward module can be configured to update thereward data of the data structure of the referrer's user account data inorder to account for the reward determined at block 908.

At block 912, the method 512 notifies the referrer. For example, themessage generator module 208 configured to provide the referrer a textmessage notifying the referrer of the reward. For example, if thereferred user was not a pre-existing user in a reward was determined atblock 908 than the text message would notify the referrer of such areward. Additionally, that notification can provide the referrer of anyconditions on the reward, for example, time limits or expiration dates.Alternatively, the notification could provide the referrer a notice thatno reward was given due to, for example, either the referred user was apre-existing user or that the referrer has exceeded the limit forrewards.

Text Message Retargeting

FIG. 10 is a network diagram depicting a client-server system 1000,within which one example embodiment may be deployed for providingretargeting of text message alerts. The illustrated client-server system1000 of FIG. 10 includes one or more user devices 1002-1, 1002-2,1002-3, an application server 118, and a retargeting server 1004interconnected by a network 104. Moreover, the application server 118can be operatively coupled to one or more databases 126, and theretargeting server 1004 can be operatively coupled to one or moreretargeting data storage devices 1006. In the illustrated example, theapplication server 118 and the retargeting server 1004 can form anetwork-based marketplace or publication system to provide server-sidefunctionality via the network 104 (e.g., the Internet, Wide Area Network(WAN), telephony communication network) to one or more clients (e.g.,user devices 1002-1, 1002-2, 1002-3). FIG. 10 illustrates, for example,the user devices can correspond to a mobile phone (e.g., user device1002-1), a tablet computing device (e.g., user device 1002-2), a laptopor desktop computer (e.g., user device 1002-3), or the like computingdevices (not shown). The user devices 1002-1, 1002-2, 1002-3 canrepresent the devices of one user, or multiple users. The applicationserver 118 and the database 126 can correspond to the elements of FIG. 1sharing common reference indicia. It will be appreciated that in someembodiments the modules and functionality of the retargeting server 1004can be implemented as part of the application server 118.

The retargeting server 1004 and the retargeting data storage device 1006can form a network-based retargeting system to provide server-sidefunctionality via the network 104. For example the retargeting server1004 can include the retargeting module 212 of FIG. 2 for providingreal-time data collection, retargeting logic, dynamically publishingtext message based alerts, and interfacing with a communicationapplication for providing text message based alerts to one or more theuser devices 1002-1, 1002-2, 1002-3.

In addition, the retargeting data storage device 1006 can store aplurality of accounts for supporting the retargeting functionality ofthe retargeting server 1004. For example the retargeting data storagedevice 1006 can store one or more subscriber accounts that each containsdata used to provide targeted text messages to the users and thecorresponding user devices 1002-1, 1002-2, 1002-3. Each subscriberaccount can store a phone number in a tracking ID associated with one ormore devices of the corresponding user. Examples of tracking IDs includecookie IDs and device IDs. These IDs can be used to map user browseractivities to the subscriber account (and telephone number) associatedwith the user.

Furthermore, the retargeting data storage device 1006 can storeplurality of seller accounts. In one embodiment, a seller account caninclude a seller ID as well as one or more alerts. For example, a sellermay provide the retargeting server 1004 one or more candidate alerts toprovide to subscribers. During operation, the retargeting server 1004can be configured to select, based on received browser activity, one ofthe candidate alerts to be sent to one or more subscribers.

In operation of one example embodiment, users can subscribe or opt in toreceiving text message alerts of for example offers, sales, discounts,product listings, and the like. The effectiveness of the text messagealerts may be improved by targeting subscribers with alerts that arerelated to the subscribers' browser activities. For example, thesubscribers' browser activity may be indicative of the subscribers'interests. By providing targeted text messages, a subscriber may receivetext messages that are more likely to interest the subscriber and, as aresult, are more likely to lead to a sale.

In one aspect of various embodiments described herein, tracking data(e.g., browser activity) are provided to the retargeting server 1004 byvarious web beacons. One example of a web beacon is a cookie that isplaced on a user device (e.g., user devices 1002-1, 1002-2, 1002-3) whenthe subscriber opts in to receive text message alerts. The cookie can beprovided to the user device by a tracking pixel of a webpage used in theopt-in process. The tracking pixel can place the cookie in response tovarious actions, such as the tracking pixel rendering on the userdevice. The tracking cookie can be configured to provide the retargetingserver activity data and a cookie ID to map to the telephone number ofthe user. Accordingly, the retargeting server 1004 can associatereceived activity data with a subscriber account based on the cookie ID.It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other web beacons,such as web resources based on device IDs, can also be used forproviding tracking information.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment ofmultiple modules 1102-1112 forming at least a portion of the retargetingmodule 212. The modules 1102-1112 of the illustrated retargeting module212 include one or more of each of a controller module 1102, a datamanagement module 1104, a retargeting accounts module 1106, a monitormodule 1108, an alert selection module 1110, and a message generatormodule 1112.

The modules 1102-1112 of retargeting module 212 may be hosted ondedicated or shared server machines (not shown) that are communicativelycoupled to enable communications between server machines. Each of themodules 1102-1112 are communicatively coupled (e.g., via appropriateinterfaces) to each other and to various data sources, so as to allowinformation to be passed between the modules 1102-1112 of theretargeting module 212 or so as to allow the modules 1102-1112 to shareand access common data. The various modules of the retargeting module212 may furthermore access one or more data storage devices 1006.

The retargeting module 212, as stated, may provide users text messagenotifications of product offers, sales, discounts, listings, and/orpricing by subscribing to text-message based notifications. Aspects ofthe offers, sales, and prices can be based at least on browser activityof the user. For example, an alert may be determined based on matchingthe browser activity of the user to a product or class of products forsale.

To this end, the retargeting module 212 is shown to include thecontroller module 1102 and the data management module 1104communicatively coupled to the retargeting accounts module 1106, themonitor module 1108, the alert selection module 1110, and the messagegenerator module 1112, which together can serve to providetext-message-based notifications. The controller module 1102 can beconfigured to control the operation of the various modules 1104-1112 aswell as the flow of information, data, and/or signals between themodules 1102-1112. In turn, the data management module 1104 isconfigured to facilitate the flow of the information, data, and/orsignals between the modules 1102-1112. In addition, the data managementmodule 1104 can be configured to support communication between theretargeting module 212 and the network 104 and/or the data storagedevice 1006 of FIG. 10.

The retargeting accounts module 1106 can be configured to access one ormore databases to retrieve data used to determine whether or not totransmit a text message. For example, a database can include accounts(“subscriber accounts”) of subscribers who have subscribed to receivetext message alerts from a seller. Each of the subscriber accounts caninclude a telephone number to which the communication module is totransmit text messages. In addition, each subscriber account can includedata that indicates whether the subscriber has authorized (e.g., byexpress written authorization) the seller to send the subscriber textmessages, and whether or not the authorization is currently active.

Furthermore, each of the subscriber accounts can include one or morerestrictions defining and/or qualifying the authorized sending of textmessages. Restrictions may include a threshold or limit as to the numberof text messages that may be sent over a specified period of time. As anillustrative non-limiting example, the subscriber can specify to receiveup to about five text messages per month. Other restrictions includerestrictions related to, for example, product types (e.g., clothing,sporting goods, electronics, media, etc.), time of day, parentalcontrols, and the like.

Additionally or alternatively, each of the subscriber accounts of thedatabase can include a record of at least a partial history of textmessages sent to the respective phone number. For example, thesubscriber accounts can include the number of text messages sent to therespective subscriber over a period of time. In this way, it can bedetermined whether a new text message may be sent to the respectivesubscriber in view of restrictions on the frequency of text messages.For example, where the subscriber has limited the number of textmessages to five text messages per month, the subscriber account caninclude the number of text messages sent during the last month.Accordingly, to determine whether not a text message may be sent to thesubscriber, the retargeting accounts module 1106 can access therespective subscriber account and compare the one a more restrictions inthe at least partial history of text messages sent to the respectivephone number,

As another non-limiting example, the subscriber accounts can include ahistory of the products or product types previously offered to thesubscriber. In this way, the retargeting accounts module 1106 can beused to determine new alerts to be sent to the subscriber by avoidingalerts that have previously been sent to the subscriber or that aresimilar to alerts previously sent to the subscriber. As such, the textmessage may have a higher likelihood of resulting in a sale, as well askeeping the subscriber's interest (opposed to, e.g., frustrating thesubscriber with multiple similar alerts).

Moreover, the retargeting accounts module 1106 can be configured toaccess one or more databases to retrieve data used to determineparticular alerts to be provided in the text message. For example, aseller providing the text messages can have stored one or more candidatealerts. The particular alerts selected from the one or more candidatealerts can be based at least on a subscriber's online browseractivities. For example, if the retargeting module 212 receives dataindicative of the subscriber visiting websites related to sneakers, thenthe retargeting module 212 can send the subscriber an alert selectedfrom the one or more candidate alerts that relate to sneakers. Theseller can update the candidate alerts over time dynamically in order toprovide subscribers the up-to-date alerts.

The monitor module 1108 can be configured to receive activity dataindicative of online browser activity of a subscriber. Online activitiescan include visiting a website or webpage, hovering over a webpageobject, clicking on a webpage object, and the like action indicative ofuser interest. Moreover, the activity data can include an identifier(e.g., cookie ID, device ID, an IP address, telephone number, or otheridentification data) of the user and/or user device. In one embodiment,identifier can result from the user logging into an online account.

In one embodiment, the monitor module 1108 receives activity data from aweb beacon, such as tracking pixels and/or cookies, configured toprovide tracking information to the retargeting module 212 from theuser's device. After the activity data is received, the monitor module1108 can determine whether the online browser activity was performed bya subscriber of text messages. For example, the monitor module 1108 cancompare the identifier of the activity data to the one or moresubscriber accounts, which also include identifiers (e.g., contact ID402 of FIG. 4). If a subscriber account matches the identifier, then theactivity data is related to the corresponding subscriber.

The activity data can be associated with various devices. For example,in one aspect, the subscriber authorizes to receive text messages on amobile telephone. The retargeting module 212 tracks browser activitiesperformed on the mobile telephone, and then determines a text message tosend to the subscriber based at least partly on the tracked browseractivities.

In another embodiment, the retargeting module 212 may also track browseractivities of the subscriber on one or more of the subscriber's otherdevices. For example, the online browser activity can include activitiesperformed with any suitable network-enabled computing device, such asthe tablet computing device, a laptop, a desktop, and the likecomputers. Thus, while the subscriber has authorized text messages to besent to the subscriber's mobile telephone, data related to thesubscriber's activities on, for example, the subscriber's desktopcomputer can be used to determine a text message alert to send to thesubscriber's mobile telephone.

In one embodiment, the monitor module 1108 is further configured toreceive data (“response data”) indicative of a response by a recipientof the transmitted text message. For example, the monitor module 1108can receive response data that indicates that a text message was sent toa subscriber and thereafter the subscriber purchased a product offeredin the text message. The response data in some cases may be a result ofthe subscriber purchasing a product directly from the text message. Forexample in one embodiment, the text message may include a hyperlink to awebpage for purchasing a product. Moreover, the hyperlink may beconfigured to provide response data to the retargeting module 212 inorder to indicate that the subscriber clicked on the hyperlink and madethe purchase.

Accordingly, the accounts module 1106 can be configured to update thecorresponding subscriber accounts based on the response data. Suchtracking can be useful for providing feedback of the effectiveness ofthe text message alerts. Additionally, future alerts can be selectedbased at least partly on the response data. Furthermore, such trackingcan be useful for determining subscribers who respond positively to thetext messages. This information can be useful in later marketingactivities.

The selection module 1110 can be configured to determine an alert byselecting from one or more alerts. For example, the selection module1110 can receive activity data associated with a subscriber from themonitor module 1108. In addition, the selection module 1110 can accessone or more candidate alerts via the retargeting accounts module 1106.Accordingly, selection module 1110 can match the activity data to one ofthe one or more candidate alerts. The matching can be based on, forexample, product type. As a non-limiting illustration, the selectionmodule 1110 may select an offer for bicycle of the seller if theactivity data indicates that the subscriber is interested in bicycles.In addition, the selection module 1110 can be configured to base theselection upon a determination of an interest level of the subscriber.For example, if the subscriber has spent a substantial amount of timebrowsing bicycles, the selection module 1110 can determine that thesubscriber has a high interest in bicycles and thus biased the selectiontowards offers related to bicycles. In this way, if the subscribersbrowsing activities relate to two or more of the sellers alerts, theselection module 1110 can compare the estimated interest level for eachand select an alert associated with a high interest, so as to increasethe likelihood of the text message alert resulting in a sale.

In another embodiment, the selection module 1110 can be configured todetermine that no text message alerts should be sent. For example, theselection module 1110 can be configured to determine a similarity of thebrowser activity to the products associated with the candidate alerts.If the similarity is below a predetermined threshold, then the selectionmodule 1110 can be configured to not send a text message based on thecurrent received activity data. Additionally or alternatively, if theactivity data indicates that the subscriber does not have high interest(e.g., below a predetermined threshold) in a product associated thecandidate alerts, then the selection module 1110 can be configured tonot send a text message based on the activity data. Accordingly, someembodiments of the selection module 1110 may have an advantage, amongothers, of increasing the likelihood of success of a text message andreducing the likelihood of irritating subscribers.

In some embodiments, the selection module 1110 can be configured todetermine whether or not a text message is authorized to be sent to thesubscriber. For example, the selection module 1110 can be configured tocheck whether or not the subscriber has provided authorization for textmessaging. To do so, the selection module 1110 can access a subscriberaccount via the accounts module 1106 to determine whether or not thesubscriber has provided the authorization. Furthermore, the selectionmodule 1110 can be configured to check whether not the text message isauthorized to be sent based on other restrictions. For example, in oneembodiment, the selection module 1110 compares the number of textmessages sent to the telephone number (e.g., as recorded in thecorresponding subscriber account) and a predetermined threshold (e.g.,as recorded in the corresponding subscriber account). As stated, examplerestrictions include restrictions on the time, frequency, duration, andthe like considerations. Other example restrictions include restrictionsbased on the type of product offered type of the text messaging,parental-control, and the like.

If sending the text message is authorized and the selected candidatealert does not violate any of the restrictions, then the text messagemay be sent. Accordingly, the selection module 1110 can be configured toupdate the database of subscriber accounts to indicate that thedetermined alert has been provided. In this way, the frequency of textmessaging can be tracked. Additionally, sending multiple text messagesfor the same alert can be avoided.

The message generator module 1112 configured to generate a text messagealert based at least on the alert determined at block 1110. The textmessage alert may be sent in accordance with a short message servicetelecommunication system. The text message alert can be transmitted tothe telephone number of the subscriber.

As stated, it can be beneficial to track the response of the subscribersto the text message alerts that are sent to the subscribers. To thisend, the message generator module 1112 can be configured to generate ahyperlink included in the text message alert. The hyperlink canconfigured to generate response data indicative of the subscriber'sresponse. For example, response data can be generated by creating aunique hyperlink for the text message so that it can be determinedwhether the user clicks on the hyperlink, as previously described above.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1200 of an exampleprocess for generating a text message alert based on retargeting. Inthis example, the method 1200 may include operations such as receivingrequests for text message alert 1204, monitoring browser activity 1206,determining text messages based on the browser activity 1208, sendingthe text message alert 1210, and tracking the user's response to thetext message alert 1212.

The method 1200 starts at block 1202 and proceeds to block 1204 forreceiving a request from a user for text message alerts. For example,the user may subscribe or opt in to receive alerts by text messages. Theuser may specify various restrictions on the text messaging, includingthe frequency and/or duration of the text messaging. A correspondingsubscriber account can be stored in a database, such as the database 126of FIGS. 1 and 10. The process of creating and storing subscriberaccounts can be provided by the accounts module 206 of FIG. 2 and/or theretargeting accounts module 1106 of FIG. 11.

The method 1200 proceeds to block 1206 for monitoring the user's browseractivity. For example, activity data can be received from a web beaconfor providing an indication of browser activity, such as spending timeon a particular webpage, hovering a mouse cursor over a webpage objectfor a period of time, clicking or otherwise activating a webpage object,and the like interactions with a webpage. The activity data can alsoinclude identification data providing an indication of the identity ofthe user who performed the action. As will be described in greaterdetail below in connection with FIG. 14, the identification data can beused to determine whether the received activity data is associated withuser who subscribed at block 1204.

At block 1208, the method 1200 determines a text message alert to besent based on the browser activity. For example, an alert can beselected from one or more candidate alerts based on matching the browseractivity with the selected alert. In one embodiment, the selectionmodule 1110 can provide the determination of the alert to be sent as atext message alert. The block 1208 of the method 1200 will be describedin greater detail later in connection with FIG. 15.

After the text message alert is determined, the method 1200 proceeds toblock 1210 for transmitting or sending the text message alert to theuser who subscribed to receive text message alerts at block 1204. Forexample, the text message can be provided to the communicationapplication 123 of FIG. 1 for transmitting, e.g., as a short messageservice text to the telephone number recorded in the subscriber accountof the user who requested text message alerts. In one embodiment, thecommunication application 123 receives the text message from theselection module 1110 and then transmits the text message to the userover the network 104.

FIG. 13 is an interaction diagram illustrating an example use case ofmethod 1200. The interaction diagram involves multiple interactionsbetween a User 1, a marketplace application 120, and a retargetingserver 1004.

At operation 1302, User 1 initiations the process to subscribe toreceive text message alerts from the marketplace 120, as described inconnection FIGS. 5 and 6. At operation 1304, the marketplace application120 activates a web beacon in order to track browser activity of User 1.The web beacon may track User 1's activity on a webpage of themarketplace application 120. In some embodiments, the marketplaceapplication provides User 1 with a browser cookie that includes codethat captures and provides activity data to the retargeting module 212of the retargeting server 1004.

After a web beacon is activated, at operations 1306-1308, User 1transmits one or more sets of activity data and the retargeting module212 receives the activity data. The retargeting module 212 can receivethe activity data with the monitor module 1108 via the communicationapplication 123 of FIG. 1 and/or the data management module 1104 of FIG.11.

In response, at operation 1310 the retargeting module 212 can transmitretargeting data to the marketplace application 120. In one embodiment,the retargeting data includes a text message to be sent to User 1. Forexample, the retargeting module 212 can provide the communicationapplication 123 of FIG. 1 the text message alert that was generatedbased on the transmitted activity data of operations 1306 through 1308.The communication application 123 of FIG. 1 can then transmit the textmessage alert to the user, e.g., using a telecommunication channel, suchas short message service communication.

In another embodiment, the retargeting data corresponds to datagenerated by performing one or more analytics based at least partly onthe one or more transmitted activity data of operations 1306 through1308. In one embodiment, the data of the analytics can correspond toinformation that summarizes the transmitted activity data. For example,the summary can provide a list of potential products that the User 1 hasshown or indicated interest in through User 1's browser activities. Insome embodiments, the list comprises one or more categories of products(or more specific problem products) rate in the order of interestindicated by the activity data. Alternatively, the summary data caninclude a list of one or more users who may be interested in a certainproduct or alert. The marketplace application 120, in turn, can then usethe retargeting data to match the retargeting data to one or moreproducts or alerts.

Additionally or alternatively, the retargeting data can be used todynamically and/or automatically generate new types of alerts. Forexample, the retargeting data received by the marketplace application120 can indicate that User 1 has shown interest in bicycles.Furthermore, the marketplace application 120 can search one or moreinventories to determine the current inventory of bicycles, and based onthe determined inventory, determine a price at which to offer User 1 fora bicycle.

Upon selection of an alert, the marketplace application 120 generates atext message and using the communication application 123 of FIG. 1transmits the text message to User 1 at operation 1312.

At operations 1314, if the user responds to the text message, responsedata related to User 1's response is transmitted to the marketplaceapplication 120. One example user response that can trigger operation1314 is the user clicking on a hypertext of the text message alert andthen buying a product that is related to the text message alert. Thistype of data can be useful in providing marketing feedback to identifythe efficacy of particular alerts, as well as determine whether aparticular user, or an aggregate of the users, is interested in textmessage alerts.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1206 of an exampleprocess for monitoring browser activity. In this example, the method1206 may include operations such as receiving data corresponding to oneor more browser activities 1404 and determining whether the browsercommittees are performed by a subscribed user 1406.

The method 1206 starts at block 1402 and proceeds to block 1404 forreceiving data corresponding to one or more browser activities. The datacan be provided, for instance, by a web beacon such as a cookie storedon the user's device or by various tracks and pixels of a webpage. Thedata can include an indicator of the user performing the one or morebrowser activities. In one embodiment, the provided data can be receivedby the monitor module 1108 of FIG. 11.

Once the data of one or more browser activities are received, the method1206 proceeds to block 1406 for determining whether the browseractivities were performed by a subscribed user. Moreover, at block 1406,the method 1206 determines which particular subscribed user isassociated with the received data. In one embodiment, the monitor module1108 of FIG. 11 matches the indicator to a subscriber account of thedata storage device 1006. For example, the retargeting accounts module1106 can query the database of account based on the indicator of thereceived activity data. If the indicator matches an account, theaccounts module 1106 can provide the subscriber data of the account tothe monitor module 1108. In one embodiment, subscriber account includesa subscriber identification data field. After it is determined whetherthe browser activity performed by a subscribed user, the method 1206proceeds to block 1408 to end.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1208 of an exampleprocess for determining text message alerts to be sent based on browseractivity. In this example, the method 1208 may include operations suchas accessing a database of subscribers 1504, matching an alert from aplurality of alerts 1506, testing whether a permitted alert is available1508, and updating the database of subscribers 1510.

The method 1208 starts at block 1502 and proceed to 1504 for accessing adatabase of subscribers. For example, the method 1208 can access asubscriber account of a database, the subscriber account correspondingto a subscriber identified at block 1206 of FIG. 12. The subscriberaccount can contain one or more data fields, such as data fields similarto the data fields described in connection with the user account 400 ofFIG. 4. In particular, the data structure of an example subscriberaccount may include data fields indicative of a personal ID,authorization to send text messages, message constraints (e.g., limitson message frequency, time of day, subscription duration, product types,and the like), history of text messages, and history of purchases, amongothers.

In addition, block 1504 also includes determining whether sending thesubscribed user a text message is permitted. For example, sending a textmessage may be permitted if the subscriber has authorized text messagingand if sending a text message would meet (e.g., not violate) the messageconstraints as provided by the corresponding subscriber account.Accordingly, one or more data fields of the subscriber account can beaccessed to determine whether the associated subscriber has authorizedtext messaging and whether sending a text message would not violate amessage constraint. If such a text message is not permitted, then themethod 1208 can end, as will be described below in connection with block1508.

At block 1506, the method 1208 can include matching an alert from aplurality of alerts. As stated, in one embodiment, the selection module1110 can be configured to access a database of alerts and to match theactivity data collected by the monitor module 1108 to one of the alertsof the database. In one embodiment, particular actions are assigned tomatch certain alerts. For example, the example user action of clickingon a product image object of a webpage and not purchasing the imagedproduct can trigger an alert of a sale on the product, and the alert canbe sent as a text message to the user. In one embodiment, the textmessage can be sent at some predetermined time from the action (e.g.,about a week after the user action).

In one embodiment, the marketplace application 120 can be configured toprovide the retargeting module 212 a plurality of candidate alerts fromwhich alerts can be selected and sent to subscribers in a targetedmanner. To this end, the selection module 1110 can select one of thecandidate alerts based on an interest determined based at least partlyon the received activity data of the monitor module 1108—e.g., selectinga particular candidate bicycle offer based at least on an indication ofan interest in bicycles (e.g., as indicated by multiple activitiesrelated to bicycle-themed webpages). In one embodiment, each candidatealert is selected based on one or more specific user actions, and apredetermined action is assigned to a particular candidate alert. Forexample, a candidate alert can be selected if a particular target pixelis activated.

In other embodiments, certain actions and candidate alerts are matchedtogether dynamically. For example, actions are not predeterminedlyassigned to a particular candidate alert. Instead, for example, block1506 includes determining a level or closeness of a match and comparingthe closeness of the match to a predetermined threshold. A strong orclose match can be determined if, for example, the activity dataincludes a comparatively large percentage of the aspects of candidatealert, and whereas a weak or distant match can be determined if, forexample, the activity data includes a comparatively small percentage ofthe aspects of candidate alert. For example, activity data may result ina strong or close match to candidate alerts related to bicycles if theactivity data includes data related to visiting various webpages andwebsites related to bicycles. An example of candidate alerts resultingin comparatively weaker matches are alerts related to jewelries havingbicycle designs. An example of candidate alerts resulting in stillweaker matches are candidate alerts related to jewelries notsubstantially related to bicycles. Dynamic matching can provideindependence and flexibility between the marketplace application 120 andthe retargeting module 212. Furthermore, using a threshold on thecloseness of the matching can inhibit sending irrelevant or evenannoying text messages to subscribers.

Accordingly, at block 1506, the method 1208 may include determining acloseness of a match between the activity data and one or more candidatealerts by comparing the activity data to aspects of the candidatealerts. In addition, in some embodiments, one or more matches may beranked, and the highest ranked alert (e.g., as determined in accordancewith block 1504) can be selected. Furthermore, the closeness of thematches can be compared to a predetermined threshold, and thosecandidate alerts above the threshold can be available for providing tothe subscribed user.

The method can proceed from block 1506 to block 1508 for determiningwhether any permitted alerts are available. Permitted alerts can includea candidate alert that is authorized as discussed above in connectionwith block 1504. Additionally, available alerts can include candidatealerts that match the activity data above the predetermined threshold,as described above in connection with block 1506. If the associatedsubscriber has authorized text messaging and sending a text messagewould not violate a message constraint, then the method 1208 cancontinue to block 1510 for updating the database of subscriber accounts;otherwise, the method 1208 can end at block 1512.

Modules, Components and Logic

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute eithersoftware modules (e.g., code embodied (1) on a non-transitorymachine-readable medium or (2) in a transmission signal) orhardware-implemented modules. A hardware-implemented module is tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or morecomputer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system)or one or more processors may be configured by software (e.g., anapplication or application portion) as a hardware-implemented modulethat operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware-implemented module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware-implementedmodule may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanentlyconfigured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware-implementedmodule may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., asencompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmableprocessor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certainoperations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement ahardware-implemented module mechanically, in dedicated and permanentlyconfigured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g.,configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware-implemented module” should be understoodto encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily ortransitorily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certainmanner and/or to perform certain operations described herein.Considering embodiments in which hardware-implemented modules aretemporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware-implemented modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware-implementedmodules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software,the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware-implemented modules at different times. Software mayaccordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware-implemented module at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware-implemented module at a differentinstance of time.

Hardware-implemented modules can provide information to, and receiveinformation from, other hardware-implemented modules. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware-implemented modules may be regarded as beingcommunicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware-implementedmodules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved throughsignal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) thatconnect the hardware-implemented modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware-implementedmodules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrievalof information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware-implemented modules have access. For example, onehardware-implemented module may perform an operation, and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware-implemented module may then,at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process thestored output. Hardware-implemented modules may also initiatecommunications with input or output devices, and can operate on aresource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or processors or processor-implementedmodules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributedamong the one or more processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a singlelocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as aserver farm), while in other embodiments the processors may bedistributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs).)

Electronic Apparatus and System

Example embodiments may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them.Example embodiments may be implemented using a computer program product,e.g., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier,e.g., in a machine-readable medium for execution by, or to control theoperation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor,a computer, or multiple computers.

A computer program can be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed inany form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, subroutine,or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiplecomputers at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

In example embodiments, operations may be performed by one or moreprogrammable processors executing a computer program to performfunctions by operating on input data and generating output. Methodoperations can also be performed by, and apparatus of exampleembodiments may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry,e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC).

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. Inembodiments deploying a programmable computing system, it will beappreciated that that both hardware and software architectures requireconsideration. Specifically, it will be appreciated that the choice ofwhether to implement certain functionality in permanently configuredhardware (e.g., an ASIC), in temporarily configured hardware (e.g., acombination of software and a programmable processor), or a combinationof permanently and temporarily configured hardware may be a designchoice. Below are set out hardware (e.g., machine) and softwarearchitectures that may be deployed, in various example embodiments.

Example Machine Architecture and Machine-Readable Medium

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of machine in the example form of a computersystem 1600 within which instructions, for causing the machine toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may beexecuted. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in thecapacity of a server or a client machine in server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1600 includes a processor 1602 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 1604 and a static memory 1606, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1608. The computer system 1600 may furtherinclude a video display unit 1610 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD)or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 1600 also includes analphanumeric input device 1612 (e.g., a keyboard or a touch-sensitivedisplay screen), a user interface (UI) navigation device 1614 (e.g., amouse), a disk drive unit 1616, a signal generation device 1618 (e.g., aspeaker) and a network interface device 1620.

Machine-Readable Medium

The disk drive unit 1616 includes a machine-readable medium 1622 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures(e.g., software) 1624 embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1624 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory1604 and/or within the processor 1602 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 1600, the main memory 1604 and the processor 1602 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

While the machine-readable medium 1622 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one ormore instructions or data structures. The term “machine-readable medium”shall also be taken to include any non-transitory, tangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for executionby the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies of the present invention, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associatedwith such instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples ofmachine-readable media include non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, e.g., Erasable ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; andCD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

Transmission Medium

The instructions 1624 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1626 using a transmission medium. Theinstructions 1624 may be transmitted using the network interface device1620 and any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g.,HTTP). Examples of communication networks include a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), the Internet, mobile telephonenetworks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., WiFi and WiMax networks). The term “transmission medium”shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine,and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of such software.

Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specificexample embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a parthereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specificembodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. Theembodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enablethose skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein.Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

What is claimed:
 1. A system comprising: one or more hardwareprocessors; and a non-transitory machine-readable medium for storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors,cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operationscomprising: receiving first user data from a first client deviceassociated with a first user, the first user data including an indicatorthat the first user requested to subscribe to receive message alerts;adding, based on the first user data, a first user account associatedwith the first user to a database of subscribers; tracking onlineactivity of one or more users; determining, based on the first useraccount, that a portion of the online activity is associated with thefirst user; generating, automatically after the determining, a firstmessage corresponding to an offer to subscribe to receive messagealerts, the first message comprising, within the message, a firstmessage portion and a second message portion, the first message portionbeing personalized to a second user, the second message portion having arequest to subscribe to receive message alerts; transmitting the firstmessage to the first client device, the first message being configuredto be forwarded to a third client device, the third client deviceassociated with the second user; receiving, in response to activation ofa hyperlink in the first message, second user data from the third clientdevice, the hyperlink comprising a portion of the second user data, thesecond user data including an indicator that the second user requestedto subscribe to receive message alerts based on the first messagetransmitted to the first client device associated with the first user,and an indicator that the first user referred the second user; andadding a second user account to the database of subscribers to receivemessage alerts, the second user account including the second user data.2. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator that the first userreferred the second user includes contact data associated with the firstuser.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:accessing reward data of the first user account in response to receivingthe second user data; determining a reward based on the first user dataof the first user account; and updating the reward data of the firstuser account based on the determined reward.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein the operations further comprise: generating a second messageproviding a notification of the determined reward; and transmitting thesecond message to the first device associated with the first user. 5.The system of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise:determining that the second user account was added to the database ofsubscribers based on receiving the second user data; and providing thesecond user a reward based on a determination that the second useraccount was added to the database of subscribers based on the seconduser data.
 6. The system of claim 3, wherein the reward is furtherdetermined based on the second user data.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the first user data includes contact data associated with thefirst user, and wherein the operations further comprise: transmittingthe first message to a particular client device corresponding to thecontact data associated with the first user.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise: in response to receiving thefirst user data, adding the first user account to the database ofsubscribers by: determining account information based on parsing thereceived user data; verifying that the first user data includes writtenauthorization to send messages to the first device associated with thefirst user; and storing the account information in a record of thedatabase based on a verification that the first user data includeswritten authorization to send messages to the first device associatedwith the first user.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: generating a second message in response to receivingthe first user data, the second message indicating an acknowledgementthat the first user account has been added; and transmitting the secondmessage to the first client device associated with the first user. 10.The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:determining a hyperlink that is associated with a web resource foradding accounts to the database of subscribers; and including thehyperlink in the first message.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein thehyperlink is configured to provide an indication to the web resourcethat the first user referred the second user.
 12. A method for providingelectronic notifications, the method comprising: receiving first userdata from a first client device associated with a first user, the firstuser data including an indicator that the first user requested tosubscribe to receive message alerts; adding, based on the first userdata, a first user account associated with the first user to a databaseof subscribers; tracking online activity of one or more users;determining, based on the first user account, that a portion of theonline activity is associated with the first user; generating,automatically after the determining, a first message corresponding to anoffer to subscribe to receive message alerts, the first messagecomprising, within the message, a first message portion and a secondmessage portion, the first message portion being personalized to asecond user, the second message portion having a request to subscribe toreceive message alerts; transmitting the first message to the firstclient device, the first message being configured to be forwarded to athird client device, the third client device associated with the seconduser; receiving, in response to activation of a hyperlink in the firstmessage, second user data from the third client device, the hyperlinkcomprising a portion of the second user data, the second user dataincluding an indicator that the second user requested to subscribe toreceive message alerts based on the first message transmitted to thefirst client device associated with the first user, and an indicatorthat the first user referred the second user; and adding a second useraccount to the database of subscribers to receive message alerts, thesecond user account including the second user data.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising: accessing reward data of the first useraccount in response to receiving the second user data; determining areward based on the first user data of the first user account; andupdating the reward data of the first user account based on thedetermined reward.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:generating a second message providing a notification of the determinedreward; and transmitting the second message to the first client deviceassociated with the first user.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: determining that the second user account was added to thedatabase of subscribers based on receiving the second user data; andproviding the second user a reward based on a determination that thesecond user account was added to the database of subscribers based onthe second user data.
 16. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or morehardware processors of a machine, cause the one or more hardwareprocessors to perform operations comprising: receiving first user datafrom a first client device associated with a first user, the first userdata including an indicator that the first user requested to subscribeto receive message alerts; adding, based on the first user data, a firstuser account associated with the first user to a database ofsubscribers; tracking online activity of one or more users; determining,based on the first user account, that a portion of the online activityis associated with the first user; generating, automatically after thedetermining, a first message corresponding to an offer to subscribe toreceive message alerts, the first message comprising, within themessage, a first message portion and a second message portion, the firstmessage portion being personalized to a second user, the second messageportion having a request to subscribe to receive message alerts;transmitting the first message to the first client device, the firstmessage being configured to be forwarded to a third client device, thethird client device associated with the second user; receiving, inresponse to activation of a hyperlink in the first message, second userdata from the third client device, the hyperlink comprising a portion ofthe second user data, the second user data including an indicator thatthe second user requested to subscribe to receive message alerts basedon the first message transmitted to the first client device associatedwith the first user, and an indicator that the first user referred thesecond user; and adding a second user account to the database ofsubscribers to receive message alerts, the second user account includingthe second user data.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise: accessingreward data of the first user account in response to receiving thesecond user data; determining a reward based on the first user data ofthe first user account; and updating the reward data of the first useraccount based on the determined reward.